Barnt Green Road Quarry.

This quarry is one of two cared for by the Lickey Hills Geo-Champions under the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust’s ‘Champions project’. Although outside the normal area covered by BCGS, the quarry is not far from the Rubery Cutting where members of BCGS have already done some clearance work with the Geo-Champions and other volunteers from the Lickey Hills Country Park. The report below was written by BCGS member Adrian Wyatt for the Champions web site, and we are grateful for permission to re-print it here.

For more information about the Lickey Hills Geo-Champions see: http://ehtchampions.org.uk

By 10.30 on Sunday 24th November the regulars at the Lickey Hills Visitor Centre were momentarily outnumbered by volunteers eager to start the 2nd conservation day of the season. An amazing 25 people signed the attendance register! After collecting the tools and equipment and packing the 4 x 4 the group made haste to Barnt Green Road Quarry. On this occasion support came from the Black Country Geological Society, the Gloucestershire Geology Trust, the West Midlands Regional Group of the Geological Society, local students, together with the Lickey Hills Geo-Champions and Steve Hinton (Senior Ranger, Lickey Hills Country Park).

Work included removing vegetation and scree from the main West face of the quarry and carefully digging down and around the recently discovered ‘feature’ on the south face. Later, more adventurous activity was undertaken on the upper south face. This was led by Steve with the aim of revealing the bedrock in the area of the fault. Although it seemed crowded and there could have been a case for “too many cooks”, it all turned out well, with everyone taking it in turns to do their bit.

In the end, was anything achieved? Well, we can see more solid rock face, so that must be good! As to answering questions held over from last time, that’s not been so successful. The ‘feature’ has grown in size and still poses many questions. Why does it look different? We are certain it is Lickey Quartzite Formation, the same as the rock surrounding it. Are the original bedding planes disturbed or are they still there? Is it a slip plane or joint surface of some sort; or is it connected with the faulting? There is talk of a gathering of clinometers for a mass survey of all the bedding planes in sight. Yes, it might help to tackle this from a different angle! Well done to everyone who came, hope you all enjoyed it.